Dare to Date
by SamanthaKathy
Summary: Kono decides Danny's been out of the dating pool too long so she convinces him to join a dating site. It takes a lot of dates before Danny finally has the perfect one. Eventual Steve/Danny


**Author's note: originally published 20 August 2011 on AO3. **

**Written for the prompt: Kono decides Danny's been out of the dating pool too long so she convinces him to join a dating site. ****Who does he end up with? Prompt by fabulousweapon.**

H50H50H50H50

**The Beginning**

Chin was at an IT conference and Steve was in a lunch meeting with the Governor, so it was just Kono and him for lunch. Kono insisted on buying, which really should have been warning enough that she was planning something. But Danny was buried in paperwork and had missed the signs. A fact which he was paying quite dearly for right now.

"Oh, come on Danny, it's perfect," Kono wheedled. "It's the new way of dating, you know. So many people have so little time to go out and meet potential dates, that internet dating is really booming. I've got a good site, recommended by a friend who met her husband by joining."

"No," Danny said. "I don't need to join a site full of pathetic losers who can't get a date."

"When's the last time you went on a date?" Kono shot back.

Danny pursed his lips. He knew exactly when the last time had been. Before he was married, with Rachel. Since the divorce he hadn't had a date. But he'd been getting his feet back under him from the break-up and then he'd moved to Hawaii, and just as he was getting a bit settled here Steve stormed in his life. Ever since he lived and breathed Five-0 in between having Grace.

"When would I have had the time, huh?" he asked in response. "Besides, the whole filling in a profile and weeding out the wackjobs, it takes nearly as much time as conventional dating. Which, you know, I don't _have_."

Kono got a huge grin on her face and Danny got the suspicious feeling he'd just walked into a trap of the rookie's making. He was proven right by her next words.

"That's all right, I'll set it up and take care of everything. I think after working together for nearly two years I know you well enough for this. You just have to show up on the dates," she said. "This is going to be great!"

She jumped up and went into her office, where Danny could see her typing furiously on her computer. He was getting kind of scared, to be frank, but knew Kono well enough to realize that she'd never give up on this plan. With a big sigh, he resigned himself to a couple of dates. If he at least made the effort, she'd back off eventually. He hoped.

**Date 1**

Danny had to admit, this date was kind of nice. For all the grumbling he'd done in the past week since Kono came up with her ridiculous idea, she had a point. His social life had been sadly lacking for a long time. And Susan was nice, well educated, witty, and gorgeous to boot. There was only one problem.

She could have been a twin to his younger sister, and even thinking of kissing her was all kinds of wrong. It was just, ugh, no…no matter how nice she was, he couldn't do it. So it was with some regret and a heavy dose of relief that he walked her to her car at the end of the evening.

"So, you want to do this again some time?" Susan asked.

"Look, you're really nice," Danny began, and he could see her face falling. "But I don't think this is going to work."

She mustered up a smile, although he could see the disappointment. He was kind of disappointed too, but most of him was cringing away from any sexual thoughts about her. It wasn't going to work and unless she woke up looking different, it was never going to work. Better to quit now than hurt her more later on.

They said their goodbyes and Danny watched as she drove away. Even though the date had gone nowhere, it gave Danny hope for future dates. If Kono had managed to dig up Susan on a first try, then maybe this wasn't such a doomed operation after all. There was no way the next one would look like one of his sisters as well.

**Date 2**

Danny really had to give Kono credit, he though as he sat down to dinner with Amanda. Once again the rookie had done what he'd considered impossible – found a perfectly nice, intelligent, beautiful woman on an internet dating site – and set him up with her. Conversation flowed, and as the main course was served Amanda brought up one of Danny's favorite topics.

"So, your profile said you have a daughter, but that she lives with her mother?"

"Yes, Grace," Danny said with a smile. "She's the reason I came to Hawaii, she moved here with her mother and stepfather, so I followed her. I've got her every other weekend a couple of hours a week, mostly me dropping her off at school and picking her up afterwards, only to bring her back in time for dinner."

"Oh, that's…nice," Amanda said.

Danny wasn't a detective for nothing, and the tone of Amanda's voice said she thought it was anything _but_ nice. Still, Danny thought he'd give her the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone was a natural with kids – just look at Steve – but with a little time and encouragement most people got over their awkwardness pretty quickly.

"Not used to being around kids?" he asked with a smile.

"No, I don't like children," Amanda said.

There was nothing in her tone of voice that suggested that she even wanted to try. Conversation became stilted after that, as Danny withdrew behind a professional mask. Amanda was nice, but Grace was his life, and he didn't think his date would ever get that. He didn't know what she had expected, as she clearly knew he had a daughter, but it obviously hadn't been that he was a devoted father. It came as no surprise to him when she said goodbye to him at the end of the evening without offering a second date, and he didn't offer either.

**Date 3**

He should have know, really, before this date began that it would be horrible. In contrast to the two previous dates, which had been better than Danny expected despite the two rather large problems that had cropped up, this one had him grimacing before he'd even met his date. The location was a fancy, expensive French restaurant – picked by Jaqueline – that had him pulling on a suit he usually only wore to court. His main course alone costs almost as much as everything he'd eaten on one of his previous dates – really, it was an insane amount of money for the three bites that were on his plate.

Jaqueline, while he was sure she was a wonderful person, reminded him of Rachel with every other sentence that came out of her mouth. She talked about theater and horse riding, about upscale events Danny knew nothing about and bandied about names of prominent Hawaiian businessmen like they were her next door neighbors. Hell, for all he knew, they were.

They found plenty of common ground to talk about, and she wasn't a snob – quite the contrary, she had a wicked sense of humor that appealed to Danny. But he'd learned from his mistakes, and he knew he couldn't provide her with every luxury she was used to. It might not have been the primary reason he and Rachel had gotten divorced over, but it was certainly a factor. So no, he wasn't doing this, not again. He was no longer an idealistic young beat cop who thought love would conquer all.

They parted amicable, and Danny felt a stab of disappointment as he watched Jaqueline walk away. All of these dates were only serving to remind him that he was lonely, no matter how much he had tried to deny it to even himself. As he drove home, he thought wistfully of the time before Kono came up with her crazy idea, when his self-delusions hadn't been destroyed yet.

**Interlude**

"This isn't working," Danny said.

"What do you mean 'this isn't working'?" Kono asked incredulous. "You've been on three dates, how can you say that it's not working so soon?"

Danny sighed. He wasn't about to explain to Kono that the more dates he went on the lonelier he felt. She was honestly trying to help him, she wanted him happy, and he wasn't cruel enough to tell her this was making matters worse. She'd only blame herself. But he didn't have a good argument for her either – it was one of the rare occasions that he couldn't find something to say. And Kono was so sold on this idea that she wouldn't let it go so easily.

Just then, Steve decided to join the discussion. It hadn't taken long before his other teammates had gotten wind of Kono's plan, and while Chin had been decent – he'd merely given Danny a half-amused, half-sympathizing look – Steve had been a right bastard about the whole thing. After loudly proclaiming internet dating sites were crap, he'd teased Danny about his compliance with Kono's plans every chance he got. And now, he was standing there with a shit-eating grin, listening to Danny trying to convince Kono to let it go.

"Told you so," Steve said. "Internet dating is…"

'Yes, yes, Steven, we know," Danny cut him off irritated.

He'd gotten mighty sick of Steve's constant put-downs about this over the last month, and he wished that just one of the dates had been great, if only to prove Steve wrong. He narrowed his eyes and decided then and there that he would give this thing a real shot, it had only been done half-heartedly up until now if he was entirely truthful.

"You know, perhaps you should adjust your profile," Chin said. "I'm sure Kono did her best, but there might be some things she missed that could end up getting you a better match."

"Cuz, that's a great idea!" Kono said, while appropriating his laptop. "Okay, let's see. Name Danny Williams, age 34, male, not much that can go wrong there."

She scrolled down a bit and rattled off his height, weight, hair and eye color, as Danny listened and vaguely wondered how she'd known his weight so accurately.

"Sexuality: heterosexual," Kono recited from the screen.

"Bisexual actually," Danny corrected absentmindedly.

The effect was instantaneous, as Chin choked on the sip of coffee he just took, Steve yelped out "what?" and Kono gaped at him. Danny shrugged his shoulders, slightly uncomfortable at having let that little tidbit slip. On the other hand, he trusted his team, and after the divorce he'd promised himself that he wouldn't hide again, that he'd be himself no matter what.

"Bisexual, as in, likes both sexes," Danny said.

Chin gave him a slight smile and a shrug, showing Danny he didn't mind, although he still looked a bit shocked. Steve was just staring at him, but not in the 'I hate you now' kind of way Danny was unfortunately all too familiar with from some of the other people he'd told, and Kono had a large grin on her face.

"That's great!" she exclaimed. "That alone has doubled your potential dating pool!"

Danny groaned and wondered once again why he let the rookie run roughshod over his life. Steve snickered at his predicament, and Danny shot him a disgruntled look, but inside he was glad his team had reacted favorably to his coming out. He hadn't expected anything else, but people sometimes surprised you in wholly unpleasant ways. He was glad this was not one of those times.

**Date 4**

"Darling, there you are!"

Danny could only stand there and blink in surprise as his date kissed him soundly on both cheeks. He was swept along by the whirlwind of his date, Michael. The guy was good looking, high energy, funny, and very, very gay. There was just no other word for it, not even with all the words Danny has. And he was used to high energy, all right, he worked with Steve McGarrett, but this guy? He had all of Steve's maniacal energy, but instead of keeping it tightly under wraps until there were perps to take down, Michael let it all boil over – all the time. Danny figured this was how a jellyfish would feel, being swept away by the tide.

By the end of the evening, Danny felt like they had gone through all of the clichés. Dinner had been quite pleasant, although he could have done without the more…excessive exclamations by Michael. And yes, he's well aware just who is making that comment, thank you very much. The karaoke bar, they _gay_ karaoke bar, though, that had been the icing on the rainbow cake. As Michael dropped Danny off, he got a positively dirty kiss, but Danny's reasonably sure that's not the main reason for his shell-shock. Michael was a great guy, really, but Danny decided that one crazy guy in his life was quite enough and when it came to choosing between Steve and Michael, Steve won hands down. Also, he was never, ever divulging the details of this date to anyone, he'd just report that Michael's character had been incompatible with his. He might be bisexual – viewed as gay when he was with a guy, which he couldn't care less about – but he wasn't one to wave the rainbow flag quite so openly. Done hiding, yes, but discretion was still the better part of valor.

**Date 5**

"Okay, Danny, I can't wait to hear this explanation. How did you going on a date end with you apprehending our suspect?" Steve asked. "The guy we've been unsuccessfully looking for this past two weeks?"

Danny groaned, but he knew Steve would find out eventually.

"He was my date," he mumbled.

Steve raised one eyebrow and asked him to repeat that. Danny glared at him, he knew the bastard had heard him perfectly the first time he said it.

"He was my date," he ground out. "I went to the restaurant, and there he was, sitting at the table I'd reserved. So I arrested him. Happy now?"

"Extremely," Steve said with a big grin.

Danny just sighed. He knew he was going to catch shit about this for weeks. What had he ever done to deserve this?

**Date 6**

The entire evening, Danny waited for the shoe to drop. His date, Jonathan, was hot, funny, intelligent – all in all, he was perfect. They had dinner in an out-of-the-way restaurant that Danny never would have picked himself but served great, down-to-earth food. Conversation was great all evening, the heated kissing session in Danny's living room at the end of their date was even better.

But no matter how much his libido was begging him to take it further – he was pretty sure Jonathan wouldn't mind – Danny decided not to go too fast. He was looking for a serious relationship, not some fling that was more about sex than anything else. So he asked Jonathan out for a second date, to which he received an enthusiastic yes. Danny suggested going to his favorite Italian restaurant, which was a bit touristy, but had the most authentic dishes on the entire island. He should know, Steve had suggested the place, and he never set foot in touristy places unless they were _really_ good.

It was there that everything went to hell. Jonathan was suddenly a lot less enthusiastic, and Danny, previous 'date' with a criminal still in mind, pressed until he got an honest answer out of the man.

"Look, I like you, a lot," Jonathan said. "But I'm just not out, you know? I figured, you being a cop and all, you'd understand."

And Danny did, he really did. He didn't go announcing to the world he liked guys as well as girls. His team, his family, they were one thing. The entire HPD, that was a whole other story. And he didn't exactly go out and publish his relationships, but neither did he hide them. He'd done that with the few relationships with guys he had in the past, before Rachel, but he was done with that. And no matter how much he liked Jonathan, he wasn't going back into the closet for him.

"I understand," Danny said. "But I'm done hiding."

Jonathan nodded with an understanding look. They said goodbye with a last, lingering kiss that tasted of regret. As Danny closed the door behind Jonathan, he knew he'd never see the guy again, and it sucked. So why, then, did he feel so relieved?

**Date 7**

Danny nervously kept the door of the restaurant in his sights, his pulse rising with every man that entered alone, only to have it drop again when they didn't make their way towards him. Once again he cursed Kono for putting him in this position. Why, oh why, had he agreed to go on this date without even knowing the _name_ of the guy he was meeting. Kono had assured him that this one was perfect, but then again she'd said that about the other six as well.

Just then, the door opened again and Danny's heart leaped into his throat. But not for the right reasons, because Steve was walking towards him and Danny was already imagining all the things that could be wrong that required Steve to actually come and pick him up at the restaurant instead of just calling. But before he could fire off any questions, Steve slid into the chair opposite of him and it was then that Danny noticed the rather nervous expression on Steve's face. Suddenly all the pieces clicked.

"So, you're my mystery date?" he asked.

"Yeah," Steve said. "That okay?"

Danny smiled and said: "It's perfect." And it was, it really, really was.


End file.
